August 13, 2011
Iraq seeks UN help to halt port project
Iraq will ask the United Nations to stop construction of the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port project which Kuwait is currently constructing on Boubyan Island, if it discovers that the facility will hurt Iraq's interests, said the Iraqi premier yesterday.
Speaking to Iraq's Al-Sumeria News Agency, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki revealed that Baghdad has already asked Kuwait to halt construction work at the port "until we can ensure that the port won't hurt Iraq's maritime activities," adding that Kuwait has yet to respond to this demand.
The UN says that international regulations subject Iraq to benefit from the [Mubarak Al-Kabeer] port," said Al-Maliki, adding that these regulations would be violated if the port did not comply with this stipulation. "The Iraqi Cabinet has issued a statement asserting Iraq's maritime rights, which Kuwait has agreed on," the premier added.
Al-Maliki also reiterated that a team of Iraqi experts and consultants is set to visit Kuwait to study the port's construction. "Kuwait says that the project will be built in three stages, but there is talk about a fourth stage that could damage Iraq's maritime activity," said the premier, adding that the inspection team would submit their report to the Iraqi Cabinet two or three days after concluding their visit. He also warned that Baghdad could "take legal actions with the UN to stop the port if it was proven that it would harm Iraq".
Iraq officially asked Kuwait on July 27th to temporarily suspend construction work on the port until both sides can ensure that it won't limit activity at the Khor Abdullah - a narrow strip of water separating Kuwait's Boubyan and Warba islands from Iraq's thin outlet to the Arabian Gulf. Kuwait has rejected this request on the grounds that it has no legal basis, whilst stressing that the port is entirely located within Kuwait's borders and will have no negative effects on Iraq.
Meanwhile, dozens of Iraqi citizens gathered in Tahrir Square in downtown Baghdad yesterday to demand that Kuwait halt construction work on the port immediately. In related news, the General Company for Ports of Iraq (GCPI) said in a recent statement that the Kuwaiti authorities have tightened security measures around the port, with heavy presence of coastguard patrols around the east of the Boubyan Island where the project is located. The GCPI also listed some details of the construction operation, citing these as evidence that "Kuwait has no intentions of suspending the accelerating construction process".
Kuwait has been subjected to threats from the militant 'Hezbollah of Iraq Brigades' group, which issued a statement on July 18 threatening companies involved in the port's construction and issuing another statement last week in which the group said that it had obtained surface-to-surface missiles which it would be launching at a number of Kuwaiti targets if construction work on the port was not stopped immediately.
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NDQ5NDM5MTYzOA==
